ON-TRADE PROFILE: The Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company has spruced up its act with a revamped Rooftop Restaurant & Bar. Gabriel Savage reports.

The UK’s cultural institutions seem to be undergoing a long overdue hospitality overhaul. After decades of overpriced sandwiches and a token wine offer, The Tate set a new standard with its restaurants, making them destinations in their own right.

Restaurateur Oliver Peyton forged his own inroads into this missed opportunity back in 2006 with openings at The National Gallery and The Wallace Collection, which he has since followed with venues at The British Library and The Royal Academy of Arts.

Then last year came the revamp of the Barbican, which now boasts fine dining courtesy of Searcys, a new food hall and a first-floor lounge with a more casual but nevertheless considered bar menu.

Now the movement has reverberated beyond the capital to Stratford-upon-Avon, where the Royal Shakespeare Company has unveiled its Rooftop Restaurant & Bar as part of a four-year overhaul of the historic theatre building.

So what has caused so many of the UK’s cultural institutions to lavish care on what is essentially a sideshow to their main attraction?

Well, if the restaurant business is a notoriously precarious one, then running an artistic operation can prove even more uncertain. Rob Frederickson, catering director for the RSC, gives some idea of the pressure his role entails: “With arts funding cuts, a thriving bar and restaurant business can really make a difference between going on tour and not going on tour.”

Having opened the restaurant at the end of November, it remains to be seen whether the RSC’s decision to bring its catering in-house and upmarket will pay off. Promisingly, though, even through the quiet winter season and before the main Royal Shakespeare Theatre resumed performances in late February, Frederickson estimated that his restaurant had been feeding about 1,100 people a week.

“When the shows return we’ll be on 2,000-2,500 per week,” he projected, adding: “I guarantee there’s not a restaurant in Stratford at the moment with 3,500 people booked ahead like we have.”

Crucial to these figures will be Frederickson’s ability to reach beyond the theatre crowd market. Indeed, he remarks: “We very much hope the balance of people we’re seeing will be 7.15pm onwards business.”

This ambition seems realistic when you realise just how central, both geographically and symbolically, the RSC is to Stratford. The theatre is an economic lifeline for the town, with dozens of restaurants clustered in the centre, all advertising pre- and post-show menus.

Having watched the riverside renovation works advance over the past few years, many Stratford locals have an emotional, if not commercial, interest in the success of this project.

Vocal membership

Despite his involvement in other refurbishments with a strong community feel, such as The Clapham Picturehouse and The Ritzy in Brixton, Frederickson comments: “More than any other place I’ve worked, the membership here is so vocal.”

As if any further pressure were necessary, while much of London’s on-trade seems to have shaken off the worst of the recession, Stratford has been less sheltered. “It’s been really tough here,” notes Frederickson. “Three restaurants have gone in the last year.”

In part, he attributes this to a lack of dynamism, arguing: “People still go out, but they’re more discerning. I think some places in Stratford have been slow to cotton on to that; the drive to do something new just isn’t there.”

Against this backdrop of uncertainty and expectation, it is just as well that the quality and execution of the menu here, not to mention the unbeatable setting of the Rooftop Restaurant & Bar, immediately sets the RSC’s effort above much of the more established competition.

For Frederickson it’s a simple equation: “The RSC wanted an offer that reflected its organisation; the quality needs to be worthy of what’s on stage.” With the likes of Patrick Stewart and Greg Hicks waiting in the wings for the new season, that sets the bar rather high.

More than usual for a restaurant team, efficient service for the pre-theatre crowd is crucial to avoid the cardinal sin of delaying the start of a performance. With 120 people to feed in an hour and a quarter, flexibility is key, especially when the diners themselves do not always leave the kitchen much margin for error. “Stagger them on your reservation system all you like, but they will come when they’re ready to eat,” grimaces Frederickson.

The fixed price, regularly changing menu is relatively concise and realistic in ambition, but it focuses on good-quality, local ingredients, right down to the Cotswold Gold extra-virgin rapeseed oil served with the bread.

The wine list, courtesy of Berry Bros & Rudd, matches the food for thoughtfulness: interesting but without forgetting its core audience, especially when it comes to price.

All bar the sparkling section of the 20-strong by-the-glass range come in at under £30 a bottle; while a second, bottle-only list is available for those looking to invest a bit more time and money in classic regions and big names.

In an effort to encourage people to explore these wines, a rotating selection of eight is available by the glass through the Enomatic machine at the restaurant bar.

In keeping with the British feel to the menu, the sparkling wine list is headed by Ridgeview Blanc de Blancs, which Frederickson maintains “sums us up at the RSC – it’s the best of British”. In a further effort to encourage diners away from their usual safety nets, the restaurant uses some additional margin at the entry level of the list to fund better quality at a more accessible price further up the scale.

Pinot Grigio is available, but Frederickson has deliberately selected a more serious example, priced at £23.50 a bottle, which is the third most expensive white on his by-the-glass list. Likewise, Frederickson points to the “bold decision” not to list a Rioja by the glass, although hardened fans can order a 1995 Gran Reserva from La Rioja Alta, which is on the bottle list for £140.

Frederickson’s role is not restricted to making a success of this main project, but extends to bringing the three theatre bars up to the same league as stand-alone ventures. He describes the creation of “a slightly more thoughtful offer” here, with nine wines available by the glass, and bottled beers and ales from the local Purity Brewing Company.

The spirits selection has a distinctly premium slant, with Bombay Sapphire gin and Finlandia vodka served as standard. The Ruinart Circle Bar, as the name suggests, is sponsored by LVMH and will feature other brands from the group’s luxury portfolio, including Glenmorangie and Ardbeg Supernova.

The Rooftop Bar offers a particularly specialist selection, with Sipsmith gin and sloe gin, as well as a wide range of Bourbon, which Frederickson admits is a “vanity project” to indulge his own passion for the category.

Across the road at the Swan Theatre, draught beer is available and Frederickson was preparing to extend its opening hours to those of a normal pub in the hope of attracting the actor crowd and hangers-on, who currently patronise the nearby Dirty Duck.

It’s a bold project and a big one, which could set a welcome example for other institutions struggling to secure the funding necessary to continue their good work.

For those venues struggling to fill seats, an attractive dining offer creates yet another reason for the public to leave their sofas for a night at the theatre. With the safety net of government funding shrinking ever smaller, many of the UK’s institutions would do well to recognise that their audience’s review can be swayed for better or worse by the peripheral entertainment, not just the main act.

Gabriel Savage, April 2011